Egg-static fun\n\n

Jose Carlos goes on the hunt for eggs to fill his pail Saturday during The Lowcountry's Largest Easter Egg Hunt held at the Bluffton Highschool football field. -Russell Midori

Eva Wilson (left) and Gladys Gomez (right) run together in search of eggs during The Lowcountry's Largest Easter Egg Hunt held at the Bluffton Highschool football field Saturday. -Russell Midori

Lacy and Rory Whitten, ages 5 and 7, show off the candy they gathered during The Lowcountry's Largest Easter Egg Hunt held at the Bluffton Highschool football field Saturday. -Russell Midori

Alexander Dunton charges heartily up the Bluffton Highschool football field, racing to grab a neglected egg near the 50 yardline. -Russell Midori

Christopher Wilson’s bend-at-the-knee strategy made him one of the fastest egg hunters at The Lowcountry's Largest Easter Egg Hunt held at the Bluffton Highschool football field Saturday. -Russell Midori

Jessica Bailey, a 16-year-old volunteer egg spreader, cracks open one of the eggs to reveal its spiritual contents. The Lowcountry's Largest Easter Egg Hunt keeps the focus of the event on the Christian meaning of the Easter holiday – a day believed by the hosting church to be “the most important day of the year.” -Russell Midori

Joe Friesen, pastor of the Lowcountry Community Church, points to the young winner of a raffle for a new bicycle at The Lowcountry's Largest Easter Egg Hunt held at the Bluffton Highschool football field Saturday. Eight bikes were raffled off for the children in attendance. -Russell Midori

Beau Bischoff, a dual-basket wielding egg hunter, searches for any remaining Easter eggs on the field toward the end of Saturday’s egg hunt. -Russell Midori

Thousands of kids frolic in Lowcountry’s Largest Easter Egg Hunt.

The Lowcountry’s Largest Easter Egg Hunt drew about 3,000 children and adults to the Bluffton High School football field on Saturday morning.

More than 40,000 hollow, plastic eggs were scattered about the field, each one containing Easter surprises of candy or Christian adages.

Lowcountry Community Church organized and hosted the hunt and the activities. Children from infancy to 5th grade were divided into four groups and competed with their peers to gather the most eggs.

The younger groups toddled about the field, only vaguely understanding their purpose there, while the older groups charged the field like Crusaders, snatching up every egg in sight.

All children’s names were entered into a drawing, and the Rev. Joe Friesen of the LowCountry Community Church raffled off eight bicycles in between each group’s successive turn.

A simultaneous egg hunt was scheduled at Hilton Head Island High School.

“I have to praise God for the weather today,” said Terry Rice, a volunteer for the event. “He answered our prayers and gave us a beautiful day to do this.”

The church hosts the event annually to spread its ministry, and the children’s excitement and hysteria at the simply joy of running around and collecting eggs makes it worthwhile for the organizers.

“I love to see the joy in the kid’s faces,” said Gina Jacobs, a volunteer who helped to scatter the eggs. “They have so much excitement when they’re lined up getting ready to run for the eggs — it’s adorable.”